


Autumn (I love you as the plant that never blooms)

by broccolilover



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, but not really, inspired by the tempo teaser, pretty much nothing but fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 19:39:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16393922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broccolilover/pseuds/broccolilover
Summary: Post-apocalypse biker AU, but not really. It's Kyungsoo's birthday, and Jongin's here to celebrate with him.





	Autumn (I love you as the plant that never blooms)

Kyungsoo’s getting worried.

Jongin was supposed to be back from his trip yesterday. Chanyeol had pulled in through the gates right on time, offering no other explanation but an uncharacteristically mysterious smile as he Kyungsoo’s hair (and getting dust all over him) as always and said “not to worry, Jongin’ll be fine”. And sure, Kyungsoo trusts Chanyeol, as he does everyone else in the village, but there’s supposed to be a dust storm hitting soon and Jongin had forgotten to bring his goggles again.

That, and it’s Kyungsoo’s birthday today. 

Baekhyun and the others had already given him his cake at breakfast, which was surprisingly delicious for something made out of flour and…beets. (At least, that’s what he hoped the red colouring came from.) But there wasn’t much for him to do today, and boredom was doing nothing to ease the worry gnawing at his chest. Figures that the one time that no one in the village is sick is the one time that Jongin isn’t around to tempt him with some grand adventure or another.

Kyungsoo continues to poke around absently at the bottles of ginseng and cordyceps on his shelves until he hears laughter ringing just outside the medical hut. He rolls his eyes. Probably just Baekhyun and Chanyeol goofing off again. The two are already insufferable on a normal day, much less when he’s irritated and lonely. 

“Yeah, Kyungsoo’s been moping all day waiting for you, dude.” Chanyeol’s voice drifts in just as Kyungsoo starts on his fifth rearrangement of the prescription bottles. It takes him a second to realise who Chanyeol’s talking to. There’s only one person he’s waiting for —

“Kyungsoo!”

The door slams open, and in steps Jongin, helmet still tucked into the crook of his hip. He must have arrived seconds ago.

“Hey.” Kyungsoo smiles up as Jongin walks over to his side of the desk. “Happy birthday.” There’s dust all over his damn leather jacket, and he smells like motor oil and sweat, but Kyungsoo pulls him down for a kiss anyway, dirt be damned. Jongin’s finally back. There isn’t much to call home in a tiny village of 20, but Kyungsoo’s always at home when he’s with Jongin. He lets himself get manhandled out of his (ergonomic, mind you, very comfortable) chair and onto the wooden desk, where he just knows they’re going to knock over something again and get dirt all over his precious herbs. But Jongin’s starting to kiss his way down Kyungsoo’s neck, so Kyungsoo just shuts up and wraps his legs around Jongin’s waist. Jongin and Chanyeol had been away for slightly more than a week, searching for the source of the signal they found on the radio. Kyungsoo’s friends with everyone in the village, sure, but Jongin’s always been his best friend. Even before they became a couple, it was always Kyungsoo and Jongin, and he just misses Jongin so damn much.

Jongin pauses from where he’s undoing the buttons of Kyungsoo’s shirt. “What’s up? You look kinda distracted.”

“Nothing.” Kyungsoo presses a hand into Jongin’s cheek, smearing the streak of oil across his palm. Jongin is so beautiful. “Just thinking about how much I miss —“

“Jongin!”

The door bursts open for the second time in the day. Junmyeon sticks his head in through the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but I need Jongin for a post-trip briefing.”

Jongin pulls away from Kyungsoo’s torso, laughing at Kyungsoo’s expression. “Meet me at the gate at 5, okay?”

Kyungsoo groans.

—

It’s nearly 5.15 by the time Jongin runs over to Kyungsoo, hair still damp and jacket hanging off his shoulders. “Sorry,” he pants, “You know how Junmyeon is.” Kyungsoo did in fact know how Junmyeon is, but it was his birthday, and damn if he couldn’t be selfish this one day of the year. 

“Aw, Soo. Don’t be mad. I have a special surprise just for you.”

That does, in fact, appease his anger. “What is it?”

“You’ll find out,” Jongin teases, “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, right? Get your bike. We’re going on a little trip.”

“We’re going out? What if the storm hits?”

“Relax. Yeol and I saw it on the way back. It won’t hit for another day or two, and we’ll be back before night.”

“Fine,” Kyungsoo relents. Dust storms are far from life-threatening, and they haven’t had time to themselves for a few weeks now. He follows Jongin over to where the motorbikes are parked, his own bike dusty from disuse. Jongin tosses him a rag. 

“You should really take better care of your baby, Soo.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, but wipes the seat down anyway. Next to him, Jongin’s bike purrs to life, chrome body gleaming in the sunlight and mirrors polished to spotless perfection. Jongin had called dibs on the R NineT as soon as they found it, dragging it to the workshop and spending days rubbing leather polish into the seats and scraping rust from the spokes, and Kyungsoo couldn’t deny that it was one sexy bastard, especially next to his own bike. He loved his CB650F enough, but a beaten up Honda just couldn’t compare to a well-loved BMW. Sometimes Kyungsoo suspected that Jongin loved his bike more than he loved Kyungsoo. 

“Yo!” Jongin revs the engine, already waiting at the gate, “Hurry up!” 

Sometimes.

—

Kyungsoo’s getting tired. They’ve been driving for nearly 20 minutes, and unlike Jongin, Kyungsoo isn’t used to long-distance biking. The sun is starting to set, and his leather jacket isn’t quite enough to keep the chill out. The desert cold can be a bitch at night.

Thankfully, Jongin starts to slow down as they reach the base of the Naejangsan trail. There aren’t that many trees, but the few that survived the solar flares are starting to brown, just in time for fall. The guidebook they found had pictures of Naejangsan in all its pre-flare glory, rust-brown foliage so thick you couldn’t see the ground below and lush green lawns bracketing mirror-like lakes. He wonders if Earth will ever return to that state. Probably not, but Kyungsoo’s always hoped for a miracle. There’s so much nature that they missed out on. Lakes and oceans and flowers, all in every colour of the rainbow.

They continue down the trail, avoiding the potholes in the cracked tar road. Every now and then, a lone tree dots the landscape as they zip past, a blur of red against the dusty yellow earth.

After another 10 minutes or so, Jongin finally turns into a small clearing and motions for him to stop. Kyungsoo pulls over as Jongin disappears behind a thicket of bushes, then pops back up and slinks over.

“Follow me.”

The first thing that strikes Kyungsoo as he pulls his helmet off is the smell, earthy and fresh, the complete opposite of the dry dust that is their village. Jongin grabs Kyungsoo’s hand and all but drags him through a small undergrowth. 

The sight that greets him looks like something straight out of one of his guidebooks. Water laps at the toes of his boots, not exactly mirror-clear, but still enough to reflect the yellow-red smears of the trees circling the pond, and in the middle, a celadon blue temple, roof crumbling at the edges and rising straight out of the water. 

“Do you like it?” Kyungsoo can feel Jongin squirming from beside him.

“Like it?” Kyungsoo has never seen such beauty in his life. “I’m —“ He turns to Jongin. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

Jongin’s face lights up. In the dying sunset, his strawberry blonde hair is tinted a brick red hue, just like the autumn leaves. Kyungsoo laughs. “You match the trees.” 

“Really? Does it look good? Baekhyun’s been trying to get me to try his beetroot hair dye for weeks.”

Kyungsoo looks at the way the light catches the slope of Jongin’s nose. “You’d look good in anything.” He means it, but Jongin rolls his eyes and starts towards the temple. There’s a haphazard path of rocks from the shore to the building.

“Follow me!” Jongin calls from the middle of the pond. “Chanyeol and I found this place on our trip. We both thought it’d be perfect for you, since you love those guidebooks.”

“Speaking of the trip, did you guys find anything?”

Jongin only winks as he pulls Kyungsoo up onto the platform. “You’ll find out.”

The hardwood floor of the temple is surprisingly well-preserved, probably saved by the study tile roof. And in the centre — “A radio?”

“Yeah. It was broadcasting those signals we picked up. We found it in the bushes, probably kicked over by a deer or something. We’ve tried tuning it, but it can’t pick up any channels.”

“Oh.” Kyungsoo had been hoping for something more exciting.

“But,” Jongin grins, “We did find something in the CD player.” He reaches over and presses one of the buttons on the top of the box. For a few agonising seconds, the radio whirrs to life, then sounds start coming from the radio. Music. Some kind of instrument plays in the background while a man sings in a language Kyungsoo can’t understand. The CD skips every few seconds and the volume never goes higher than a whisper, but Kyungsoo’s never heard music before in his entire life. Sure, Baekhyun’s a good singer, but there’s only so much acapella singing a man can handle. He’s never heard anything as rich and complex as this, chorus layering in the background and a second instrument joining in after the first verse. Kyungsoo doesn’t even hesitate before playing the CD again once it stops running the first time around. By the time he can bear to open his eyes, Jongin is standing in front of him, arm outstretched.

“A dance for the birthday boy?”

Kyungsoo laughs and allows Jongin to pull him up. The song has a slow, winding beat, and Kyungsoo loops his arms around Jongin’s neck and presses his head into Jongin’s shoulder. Jongin rests his hands on Kyungsoo’s waist, swaying to the beat of the melody. “Happy birthday, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo presses a kiss to the corner of Jongin’s lips. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Kyungsoo smiles. They’re miles and miles away from the village. Soon nighttime will come, and they’ll have to rush back before the temperature drops below zero and they freeze to death. There’s a dust storm on the way, and they’re going to need to bolt the doors down again and wait it out. It’s going to be a painful few weeks.

But for now, the sun is still setting, and it’s still his birthday, so Kyungsoo closes his eyes, leans into Jongin’s chest, and lets Jongin lead him around the floor.

In the background, the music continues to play.

**Author's Note:**

> The song that Kyunsoo and Jongin dance to is, of course, can’t help falling in love. 
> 
> https://cdn.koreatraveleasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/29132516/Baekyangsa-Temple-Naejangsan-national-park-fall-foliage1.jpg
> 
> This is the temple-pond-thing I was envisioning. This started out as a drabble idea that I meant to write and post quickly, but I got a little carried away by the worldbuilding. In case you're confused, solar flares hit the earth and turned everything into dust and Kyungsoo and Jongin live in a little village settlement with the rest of EXO and a few others. That's about as far as I got with planning this fic. Eventually they find a small city with other people and they all live happily ever after and build a new civilisation.
> 
> Also yes I only just realised that Kyungsoo’s birthday is in January and not in the autumn but just pretend that the seasons have been inverted and autumn is in January now.
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed this plot-less thing of fluff :-)


End file.
